Experience and successful treatment of craniocerebral gunshot injury at a regional trauma center in Korea: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Craniocerebral gunshot injuries is gradually increasing in the civilian population with a worse prognosis than closed head trauma. We experienced a case of craniocerebral gunshot injury which a bullet penetrating from the submandibular area into the clivus of a patient. The patient did not show any symptom. However, serial laboratory findings showed an increase in blood lead level. We removed foreign bodies without any problems using an endoscopic transnasal transclival approach. Due to the extremely low frequency, guidelines for definitive management of gunshot injuries have not been presented in Korea yet. We introduce our surgical experience of a craniocerebral gunshot injury with an unusual approach for removing intracranial foreign bodies.